There are times in our lives when everything seems to be forced into perspective, and for me this is one of those times. Just yesterday I found out that a girl the same age as my little sister, a girl that I have known for years, though not extremely well, is sick and needs major surgery.

Now I may not be very close to this girl, but I still know her. Before yesterday, seriously ill children were just something talked about in books, TV shows, and sad stories on the news, but now everything has changed. Now the monsters that only haunted the lives of people in places that seemed fictional and distant are living in the body of a sweet and talented little girl that I used to sing songs with every Saturday afternoon. She’s just a kid; a good kid from a nice, normal family who doesn’t deserve any of this, but none of that matters. There are monsters among us, and they don’t care where they strike.

Sometimes it takes a horrible thing like this to remind us to count our blessings. Everyone has demons, but know that there is always someone out there who would take your pain over theirs. I am lucky. Incredibly, remarkably, unmistakably lucky to live the life I live with the people I love. There is no shortage of sadness and hardship in this world, but there is a terrible drought for love and kindness. We are all born essentially the same, good and innocent and in need of help from those people stronger than us. Somehow, as we grow up, we seem to forget that no matter who we are or what we stand for we all still have some of that goodness in us.

Imagine living in a time where everyone chose kindness over cruelty and love over hatred; it would be beautiful, and things would be so much better than they are right now. In a world where war ravages countries, people die because of the color of their skin, and sweet kids get sick, I don’t know how any of us has time to add more negativity to the world. So be thankful, and try to add as much kindness and positivity to the world as you can. We each only get this one life, one chance to try and change things for the better, so make it count. Help your friends when they need it, smile at passing strangers, listen to the needs of others, send good thoughts and prayers to those who need them, and above all else, count your blessings..... twice.